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Saturday, May 30, 2020

It's Up to Us

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, May 24, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Acts 1:6-14.


            We talk a lot about the importance of reading the Bible.  And it is important.  It’s very important.  But the thing is, we cannot just read the Bible the way we would any ordinary book.  If we’re going to really get anything out of the Bible, we need to actively engage with it.  We need to interact with it.  Because a lot of times, the people who wrote the Bible describe incredible, extraordinary events in very matter-of-fact terms.  And so, if we not engaged, if we’re not actively thinking about what we’re reading, we’re going to miss just how awesome the events described really are.          
            Our reading for today is a good example of that.  Let me just read verse nine again.  “After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”  I mean, that sounds like it was a perfectly ordinary thing.  It’s about like saying, “After we’re done with worship today, I’m going to get in the car and go home.”  Like it happens every day.  No big deal here.  Same old same old.
            Think about what that must have been like for the disciples.  As far as we know, they had no reason to think Jesus was going to leave them on that particular day.  We know, because Luke tells us, that Jesus was on earth for forty days after his resurrection, but we have no indication that the disciples knew Jesus would leave after forty days.  In fact, we don’t know whether the disciples knew Jesus was leaving at all. 
Really, the question they ask Jesus right before this—“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”—sounds to me like they expect him to be around for a while.  And the way it reads, it’s about thirty seconds after they ask that question that Jesus leaves.  He says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  And then, he’s gone.  Taken up, and hidden by the clouds.
Imagine you’re one of the disciples.  I think I’d just be standing there with my mouth hanging open.  I mean, think of it.  You were just talking to Jesus.  You were having a conversation.  And suddenly, he’s gone.  Vanished in the clouds.
What do you suppose they thought?  At first, they probably did not think anything.  They were stunned.  Then they started thinking, okay, now what?  Maybe Peter, James, and John had a flashback to the transfiguration, when they saw Moses and Elijah with Jesus and a cloud covered them all.  They stand there for a while, just looking up at where Jesus had been.  Where did he go?  When is he coming back?
And then, apparently out of nowhere, two men dressed in white appeared.  And that’s presented very matter-of-factly, too.  Who were these guys?  Were they angels?  Maybe, but the Bible does not specifically say so.  It simply describes them as two men.  And the disciples don’t seem particularly startled to see them.  Maybe, after Jesus dying and being resurrected and appearing to them several times and then vanishing into a cloud, maybe after all that nothing much surprised the disciples any more.  Anyway, the two men are there.  And they say to the disciples, what are you doing waiting around here?  What are you looking up into the sky for?  Jesus is not there.  He’s gone up to heaven.
So, eventually, the disciples left.  And can you imagine the conversations they had along the way?  At first, they were probably silent, stunned by what they’d seen.  Then one of them speaks.  Maybe it was Peter—after all, it seems like he always had something to say, no matter what the situation was.  And then the ice was broken.  Everyone starts talking, in tones of awe and wonder and probably a little fear, too.
They start out by talking about what they’ve just seen and heard.  And maybe that was enough conversation on the road home.  But when they get back to the place they were staying, the start talking about other things.  They talk about all the things Jesus told them.  They talk about what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love each other.  They talk about the mission statement Jesus gave them, to go and make disciples of all nations.
And somewhere along the line, they realize that now it’s up to them.  Yes, Jesus is coming back, sometime, but they don’t know when it will be.  And they realize that until Jesus does come back, whenever that is, they’re in charge.  They’re in charge of spreading God’s word and showing God’s love.  They’re in charge of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
That’s a pretty awesome responsibility they had, you know?  So, what did they do?  They prayed.  They “joined constantly in prayer”, as our reading told us.  And eventually, they received power from the Holy Spirit.  And then, they went to work.  They started doing what Jesus told them to do.
You and I are disciples of Jesus Christ too, of course, so what Jesus told the disciples to do now applies to us.  That means that now, it’s up to us.  You and me.  The men, whether they were angels or whatever they were, are saying to us what they said to the disciples.  They’re saying, what are you doing waiting around here?  
We’re the ones who are in charge now.  You and I are in charge of spreading God’s word and showing God’s love.  You and I are in charge of making disciples of Jesus Christ.  Not just us here in this church, obviously.  Us along with everyone else in all the other Christian churches in town and around the world.  But still, it’s up to us.  Jesus told each one of us to spread God’s word and show God’s love.  Jesus told each one of us to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
It’s a pretty awesome responsibility we have.  So, what’s the first thing we should do?  Pray.  Pray for God to help us reach more people.  Not because we want to have a big church, but because there are people right here in the towns of the Wheatland Parish who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior.  Pray for God’s guidance, so that we will know where to go and what to do and what to say, so we can reach them.  Pray that God will touch our hearts and theirs, so we can reach those people for God.
If we pray with open, sincere, honest hearts, and if we’re willing to follow where God leads us, we will receive power from the Holy Spirit, just like the original disciples did.  If we dedicate ourselves to God and are truly willing to follow wherever God leads, God’s Spirit will come into our hearts and into our lives and we will be able to do things we’ve never imagined, because all things are possible with God.
And after we’ve prayed, and after we get that power, we need to do what the original disciples did.  We need to go to work.  And I know a lot of people in this parish have been working.  I know there are a lot of people here who are trying hard to share God’s word and show God’s love.  And we’ve seen some things happen.  Even in this strange time we’re in, we’ve seen things happen.  Our livestream is one of them—we’re reaching people on this livestream that we were not reaching before.  We are seeing things happen.  And we’re going to see more things happen.  So please, be encouraged.  Keep working. 
And don’t get discouraged if things don’t happen in the way we planned or as quickly as we wanted.  I’m sure there were times when things did not happen the way the original disciples planned, either.  And I’m sure there were times when things did not happen as quickly as they wanted.  And they probably got discouraged sometimes.  But they did not quit.  They kept working.  They trusted God enough to know that if they did what they were supposed to do, God would make things work out the way they’re supposed to work out, even if that was not the way they had planned or on the time schedule they had in mind.
The original disciples gave us the perfect formula, really.  At first, they were waiting for Jesus to come back.  But then they realized he was not coming back right away, and that now it was up to them.  So they prayed.  In response to their prayer, that got power from the Holy Spirit.  And then, they went to work.  And God helped them start spreading the gospel across the entire world.
That formula worked for the original disciples.  And it will work for us.  Pray sincerely, openly, and honestly.  If we do, both as individuals and as a church, we’ll get power from the Holy Spirit.  And if we then go to work, God will help us spread the gospel across our entire parish and beyond.
We know what to do.  So let’s do it.

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